Tag: HomeFront

  • Hope begins at HomeFront as organization cuts ribbon on renovated headquarters

    Hope begins at HomeFront as organization cuts ribbon on renovated headquarters

    HomeFront has always been about dreams, and one of those dreams came true when officials cut a blue ribbon to welcome visitors to its renovated headquarters in Lawrence Township. HomeFront founder Connie Mercer, along with HomeFront board members, partners and politicians, stood proudly on the top step at 1880 Princeton Ave. when the ribbon was…

  • HomeFront seeks donors for back-to-school backpack drive

    HomeFront seeks donors for back-to-school backpack drive

    Happiness is a backpack full of school supplies, a new outfit and new sneakers for the first day of school – especially for children who are living in shelters or whose parents struggle to make ends meet. That is why HomeFront hopes to distribute 1,500 backpacks filled with school supplies and new outfits this month.…

  • HomeFront founder and CEO to retire; Board of Trustees selects COO to fill role Oct.1

    HomeFront founder and CEO to retire; Board of Trustees selects COO to fill role Oct.1

    Sarah Steward will become the next CEO of the Lawrence Township-based nonprofit group HomeFront, officials said. Steward, who currently serves as HomeFront’s chief operating officer (COO) and whose office is next door to the office of retiring CEO Connie Mercer, was chosen after a nationwide search for Mercer’s successor, officials said. She will take over…

  • Lawrence Township Community Foundation marks 20th anniversary; awards grants to 17 nonprofit groups

    Lawrence Township Community Foundation marks 20th anniversary; awards grants to 17 nonprofit groups

    Seventeen nonprofit groups that serve Lawrence Township were awarded $31,850 in grants through the Lawrence Township Community Foundation. The funds were distributed among the groups ranging from the Lawrence Township Environmental Education Foundation to HomeFront and the Lawrence Hamnett Soccer Association at the spring grants awards ceremony. The Lawrence Township Environmental Education Foundation will use…

  • HomeFront’s founder announces transition from CEO role

    HomeFront’s founder announces transition from CEO role

    Connie Mercer, HomeFront founder, has announced that she will transition from her role as CEO on Sept. 30.  Mercer laid the groundwork for HomeFront’s mission with volunteers around her kitchen table 31 years ago, and in the years since has built an effective and important organization that stands today as a national model for how…

  • HomeFront seeks diapers in Mother’s Day diaper challenge

    HomeFront seeks diapers in Mother’s Day diaper challenge

    How do you collect 500,000 diapers in eight weeks? One box at a time. That’s the goal that HomeFront has set by Mother’s Day on May 8 to help families who cannot afford to keep their babies in diapers. HomeFront, which helps the homeless and the working poor, operates its own diaper resource center in…

  • HomeFront’s administrators discuss the growing issue of homelessness

    HomeFront’s administrators discuss the growing issue of homelessness

    After the last child had been fed 14 years ago at one of the motels that doubled as homeless shelters in Mercer County, HomeFront officials thought they had done their job. There were no more children living in the motels. HomeFront, which helps the homeless and the working poor, believed it had succeeded in reducing…

  • Deliver meals to homeless families, make valentines for children during HomeFront’s Week of Hope

    Deliver meals to homeless families, make valentines for children during HomeFront’s Week of Hope

    When a family’s housing circumstances seems most hopeless and all seems to be lost, many of them turn to HomeFront. The organization offers them some hope through its many programs that range from providing rental assistance to distributing food through its pantry. Now, community members can find out for themselves exactly what HomeFront does and…

  • Lawrence Township police officers host food drive to benefit HomeFront

    Lawrence Township police officers host food drive to benefit HomeFront

    Linda Schwarz walked purposefully up to the group of Lawrence Township police officers – off-duty, none of them in uniform – to deliver a grocery bag that was full of food. A police officer accepted Schwarz’s grocery bag and thanked her, placing it next to the growing pile of bags of food on the sidewalk…